One Word, Two Ways: Vivid

Each week we take one word and each do a post based off that word. This week we’ve chosen the word vivid. Enjoy!

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Researchers Trace Roots of Vivid Memories

Researchers have found that calling up vivid memories—the face of a loved one or the chords of a favorite song—activates regions of the brain responsible for processing sensory experiences. When a person recalls a vivid memory, some of the sensory regions of the brain responsible for etching the original memory are reactivated.

In an article published in the September 26, 2000,Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator Randy L. Buckner, Mark E. Wheeler and Steven E. Petersen at Washington University in St. Louis describe how they used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to probe the roots of a longstanding hypothesis in the field of memory research. According to the reactivation hypothesis, brain regions that are activated when a person has a sensory-specific experience are reactivated whenever the person remembers that experience.

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